Liu Junqi, Dong Liang, Duan Runqing, Hu Li, Zhao Yinyue, Zhang Liang, Wang Xianzhi
School of Agriculture, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
Food Crops Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2022 May 12;13:876371. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.876371. eCollection 2022.
Soybean [ (L.) Merr.] is one of the most important crops, which produces about 25% of the world's edible oil. The nutritional value of soybean oil depends mostly on the relative contents of three unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs), i.e., oleic acid, linoleic acid (LA), and linolenic acid. However, the biosynthetic mechanism of UFAs remains largely unknown, and there are few studies on RNA-seq analysis of developing seeds. To identify the candidate genes and related pathways involved in the regulation of UFA contents during seed development in soybean, two soybean lines with different UFA profiles were selected from 314 cultivars and landraces originated from Southern China, and RNA-seq analysis was performed in soybean seeds at three developmental stages. Using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis, a series of genes and pathways related to fatty acid metabolism were identified, and 40 days after flowering (DAF) was found to be the crucial period in the formation of UFA profiles. Further, weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified three modules with six genes whose functions were highly associated with the contents of oleic and LA. The detailed functional investigation of the networks and hub genes could further improve the understanding of the underlying molecular mechanism of UFA contents and might provide some ideas for the improvement in fatty acids profiles in soybean.
大豆[ (L.) Merr.]是最重要的作物之一，其产油量约占全球食用油产量的25%。大豆油的营养价值主要取决于三种不饱和脂肪酸（UFA）的相对含量，即油酸、亚油酸（LA）和亚麻酸。然而，UFA的生物合成机制在很大程度上仍不清楚，关于发育种子的RNA测序分析的研究也很少。为了鉴定大豆种子发育过程中参与UFA含量调控的候选基因和相关途径，从314个源自中国南方的栽培品种和地方品种中筛选出两个具有不同UFA谱的大豆品系，并对三个发育阶段的大豆种子进行了RNA测序分析。通过基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）富集分析，鉴定出一系列与脂肪酸代谢相关的基因和途径，并发现开花后40天（DAF）是UFA谱形成的关键时期。此外，加权基因共表达网络分析确定了三个模块，其中六个基因的功能与油酸和LA的含量高度相关。对这些网络和枢纽基因进行详细的功能研究，可进一步加深对UFA含量潜在分子机制的理解，并可能为改善大豆脂肪酸谱提供一些思路。
